Greens out to make statement

Lee Armstrong is looking for Hawick to lay down a marker with a win over Heriot’s in tomorrow’s match at Goldenacre.

Back-to-back BT Premiership victories would propel the Greens into the title conversation, but the Capital outfit will provide a stern test.

“Heriots will be tough, they’ve been the top team in the division for a couple of years now,” said Armstrong.

“We gained a lot of confidence from the County win after two near misses and it’s now up to us to keep it going.

“We want to build some consistency, which is hugely important in the league, and keep looking towards our goal of play-off rugby.”

Ambition at Mansfield Park has tended to carry a wistful air in recent years, a sense of trying to reclaim past glories, but this season things are different according to Armstrong. And he believes the current Teri contingent are hungry, absorbed, demanding and have enough talent to compete this season. And he has urged his teammates to play without fear against the reigning Premiership champions this weekend.

“For me personally, it’s not daunting coming up against teams like Heriot’s, they are only human,” he said.

“They are just another team. In this league on any day, anyone can beat anyone, so to think of some teams as invincible is stupid because you never know what can happen.

“If we can manage a win on Saturday it would be a huge statement that would put a lot of teams on alert. Yes, we lost our opening two games but we weren’t played off the park, we were competitive and could easily have won had we [had] a bit more luck.

Armstrong concluded: “Since last season we’ve made huge improvements, and we want to be playing play-off rugby, so wins over teams who many consider to be the best are important in proving that we have what it takes and should be included in the conversation.”